Is it necessary to wear specialized badminton shoes when playing badminton?

Is it necessary to wear specialized badminton shoes when playing badminton?

Text / VICTOR BADMINTON A-Z Editorial Room

Is it really necessary to wear specialized badminton shoes when playing badminton? Can other sports shoes be worn? These are questions asked by many players. The importance of wearing specialized badminton shoes is actually a key thing that is often ignored by new players!



International badminton star Lee Yong Dae always wears specialized badminton shoes even when practicing

Some players go on court wearing running shoes or other leisure shoes, however, these don’t provide the feet with sufficient protection and can often lead to toe or even ankle sprains.

The design of specialized badminton shoes takes into account the characteristics of the game, considering the rapid forward and back and left and right movement, the numerous sudden stops, cross steps, lunges, split steps and vertical leaps.

Badminton shoe design attaches importance to tight and comfortable fit, as well as increased lateral stability and increased traction so that the feet have sufficient anti-torque protection when a player is moving laterally at high speed. Also, because of the speed and agility that characterize badminton play, with the precondition of maintaining the protective function, shoes are also made as light as possible to allow players to move around the court quickly and dive to make return shots when needed.




Can running shoes be worn to play badminton?

Some beginners wear running shoes to play badminton, however, when a player moves quickly in all directions during play their toes will be squeezed and turned in the shoes, increasing the risk of sports injury. This is because running shoes are designed mainly for forwards and backwards movement, while badminton shoes are also designed to cope with the frequent lateral movement that the game involves.

It is thus clear that running shoe lateral coverage is not as good as that of badminton shoes. In particular, when a player makes a desperate effort to play a return shot, Mallet finger can easily result due to inadequate protection given by the shoes, in serious cases resulting in ankle sprain. Wearing specialized badminton shoes on court will not only make you play better,they will also protect you and lessen the chance of sports injury being suffered.



VICTOR professional footwear SH-P9100



Can indoor shoes be worn to play badminton?
Indoor shoes refers to sports shoes with raw rubber soles like table tennis shoes, volleyball shoes; badminton shoes are also a kind of indoor shoe. Although all the above three shoe types are indoor shoes, due to the different characteristics of the sports the tread is very different!

Table tennis requires limited backwards and forwards movement but a large amount of lateral movement, so the focus of shoe design is on avoiding sudden vertical impact force and foot inversion (ankle sprain) resulting from suddenly stopping.

Volleyball involves a lot of jumping so the shoes usually have a high neck design to cover and protect the ankle joint.

In badminton, backwards, forwards left and right movements are frequent so the shoe’s tread is mainly radial; the shoes must be durable, anti-slip and provide good coverage and stability.


The tread of VICTOR badminton shoes


Due to the fact that sports shoes are designed in accordance with the characteristics of each sport, we highly recommend that you wear badminton shoes when playing badminton.

As the old saying goes: “One must have good tools in order to do a good job”. If a player has no worries about injury they can focus on the game, so it is no exaggeration to say that specialized badminton shoes directly and indirectly improve a player's on court performance. We sincerely recommend that players be sure to buy a pair of shoes specially designed for badminton play to give their feet the protection they need!


(Edit by VICTOR Badminton )